Centennial Lecture Series Comes to a Close

E d it e d by S u z a n n e Wa d d e ll
Centennial Lecture Series Comes to a Close
OPEN HOUSE 2005
with Editor Beverly Wilson Palmer
Volume 2, Issue 4
Inside this issue:
Women’s History 2
Month Display
Members of the Stevens community who attended the last lecture in the
Centennial Series given by Ms. Beverly
Palmer heard an excellent presentation on
Thaddeus Stevens, Persuasive Writer and
Orator. Ms. Palmer, formerly a faculty
member at Pomona College, and her coeditor, Holly Byers Ochoa, edited the twovolume Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens and the microfilm edition, The Thaddeus Stevens Papers.
Before delving into her subject,
Ms. Palmer described the sort of detective
work that goes into editing an historical
figure’s writings. She explained how, in
the particular instance when a manuscript
was undated, she could look for clues such
as to whom a speech was addressed. Then
she could begin to look in local newspapers for a copy of the speech.
Another difficulty that she encountered while working on this project
was that Stevens, described as a “careless
correspondent,” took no measures to preserve his own legacy: he didn’t hold onto
his old letters or make copies of those he
sent. It was only when Stevens became
chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee that a clerk began to save his
letters.
Ms. Palmer went on to contrast
Stevens’s letters, which were succinct,
with his lengthy and rhetoric-filled
speeches. When she lifted up specific examples of Stevens’s “persuasiveness,”
there was an appreciative audience reaction.
After Ms. Palmer’s speech, descendants of Thaddeus Stevens’s family
who were in the audience were presented
with a portrait of “The Great Commoner.”
The annual commemoration of Stevens’s
birthday at the Shreiner-Concord Cemetery
was held later in the afternoon.
Women’s History 2
Month Quiz
Meet the
Student Worker
3
Book Club News 3
Featured
Web Site
4
Library Hours
Sunday 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Monday 7:00 am - 10:00 pm
Tuesday 7:00 - 10:00 pm
Wednesday 7:00 - 10:00 pm
Thursday 7:00 - 10:00 pm
Friday 7:00 - 5:00 pm
Saturday Closed
Thaddeus Stevens’s descendants pose with
their portraits of “The Great Commoner.”
Paul Cameron, VP of Student Affairs, gives
welcoming remarks at commemorative service.
March
@ the LRC
The library celebrated National Women’s History Month
in March with a display highlighting women inventors. Several
new titles featuring the achievements of these innovators were
added to the collection, and Library Director Diane Ambruso put
together a collection of biographies.
Women’s History Month Quiz
New Books on Women Inventors
1.
2.
Invent Radium or I’ll Pull Your Hair by Doris Drucker
12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: a Portable Mentor by
Gail McMeekin
Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and
Momentous Discoveries by Sharon Bertsch
McGrayne
Extraordinary Women Scientists by Darlene Stille
Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron’s Daughter
by Benjamin Woolley
Madame Curie: A Biography by Eve Curie
Women Invent: Two Centuries of Discoveries That Have
Shaped Our World by Susan Casey
Ingenious Women: From Tincture of Saffron to Flying Machines by Deborah Jaff
Retrieval of a Legacy: Nineteenth-Century American Women
Inventors by Denise E. Pilato
Patently Female: From AZT to TV dinners: Stories of
Women Inventors and Their Breakthrough Ideas by
Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek
Women Inventors and Their Discoveries by Ethlie Ann Vare
and Greg Ptacek
The Book for Women Who Invent or Want To by Elizabeth
Wallace
Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth, a Life Beyond
“Cheaper by the Dozen” by Jane Lancaster
Who was the first woman granted a U.S. patent?
Bette Nesmith Graham was a working single mother
in the ‘50s when she invented Liquid Paper. Who is
her famous son?
3. Making Time is a new biography in the library that
profiles Lillian Moller Gilbreth, one of the 20th
century’s most highly regarded engineers. What else
is she known for?
4. This female doctor’s last name is synonymous with
the Newborn Scoring System that assesses the
health of newborns. Name her.
5. How did Marion Donovan revolutionize the infant
care industry?
6. What early screen legend helped invent a secret
communication system during WWII?
7. Why is Laura Scudder known as “the Potato Chip
Queen of the West?”
8. What Long Island, NY, housewife became a multimillionaire with her invention of the Miracle Mop?
9. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel prize?
10. What’s the name of the baby carrier that Ann Moore
invented after seeing the way West African mothers toted their babies around on their backs?
Answers to the quiz are on p. 4.
LRC STAFF
NOTES
Page 2
While out on maternity leave after having her baby boy in December,
Anna Marie Tucker resigned her position at the library. We send her
our best wishes, although we know she is enjoying all her “extra”
time with little Brendan!
Know Your LRC Student Workers
On Display @ the LRC
Lemuel James
And now for something completely
different…………
this Pennsylvania
tall clock on display
in the library was
made out of cherry
wood by sophomore
Jeff Widergren.
When Lemuel first came into the library
last semester looking for a student worker position, there were no openings. But through his perseverance, he was hired when some hours became
available. Since that time, Lemuel has been responsible for “mail call” and hanging the newspapers on a daily basis.
Lemuel is finishing his first year as an architectural student. He was also involved in many
extracurricular activities this past year; he participated in wrestling, boxing, cross-country, and intramural basketball. When he leaves Stevens, Lemuel hopes to have a career in international relations, and he would also like to do some traveling.
Book Club News
The most recent meeting of the Mezzanine Mavens took place
Tuesday, April 5, 2005, at 12 noon. Five members attended. If
you missed it, try to make next month's. Our discussion centered around our March book selection, All That Matters, by Jan
Goldstein. The novel was not available on tape, so again some
of our regular readers/listeners did not "read" it. All those
who read the book agreed that, although it was an "easy read,"
it did not “grab you.” Most also thought that the ending was
somewhat trite. We had lots of food (unplanned): zucchini and
sausage, chicken - tortellini salad, lime chiffon pie, fresh bread,
cheese and crackers, chocolate chip cookies, lemonade and iced tea. Show up because you never know what
you will find! It was agreed we will try to have the June meeting outdoors.
~ Diane Ambruso
Volume 2, Issue 4
Page 3
Our goal is to help you find the information you need at a time and
place that's convenient for you. Our
promise is to help you understand
when information is needed, recognize where it is, and master methods to retrieve it.
Library Staff
Diane Ambruso - Director
Timothy Creamer - Librarian
Suzanne Waddell - Librarian
Brenda Smith - Library Technician
Answers to the quiz on p. 2
1. Mrs. Samuel Slater, in 1793, for cotton sewing thread.
2. Michael Nesmith, the former guitarist of The Monkees.
3. She’s the long-suffering mother in Cheaper by the Dozen
who raises twelve children and endures the antics of her
efficiency-expert husband.
4. Dr. Virginia Apgar, who graduated from Columbia University in 1933 and went on to become Columbia’s first
full Professor of Anesthesiology.
5. She invented the prototype of the disposable diaper.
6. Hedy Lamarr
7. She was the first person to package chips in a waxed paper
bag, a big improvement over scooping them out of a barrel
- back then, no one wanted the last third of the shipment.
8. Joy Mangano
9. Marie Curie, for her work with radioactive elements.
10. The Snugli
Kenneth W. Schuler
Learning Resources Center
Featured Web Site - All Music Guide
http://www.allmusic.com
So summer is almost here...time to put the
top down on the convertible and crank up the volume. With that in mind, this issue’s featured Internet site is the All Music Guide (AMG). Although
it’s one of the most comprehensive and authoritative music resources on the Net, much of the information in this database remains hidden
from the major search engines like
Google and Yahoo. Fortunately, AMG
is well-laid out with its own very capable search tool. You can plug your
keywords into the search box at the top
and search by name, album, song, or
classical work.
Throughout the database, 30second music samples are available to
registered users (registration is free)
whenever the speaker icon appears.
And everything is cross-linked, which
is the main reason why the search engines have such
trouble with it.
Another search option for the true music
lover is to just browse through the entire site. You
can choose an entry point on the left to explore (by
genre, mood, theme, country, or instrument) although
searching this way requires registration,
too.
There is so much information to
explore here that the first time you log
onto AMG, it’s worth your while to
check out the Site Guide: the link is right
under the main search box at the top of
the page. Once you get oriented to
searching AMG, you are sure to find
your favorite performers’ biographies
and discographies as well as essays
about them by some of the most respected music critics in the world.